Skirt to top, refashion #1

20042012

We’re back at home now, in the land of neat and tidy living. Here where I have done ridiculous things like line my books up by color.

I saw it online, and it looks pretty, right? Normally I have a library-esque system where fiction is on one side and non-fiction, grouped by subject, on the other side. But as they say, the way you show a house is not the way you live in it. So true! This is not me at all but I have to admit I kind of like it.

Anyway, back up in NY we have thrift shops on every corner, a luxury (haha! just saw the irony there) that doesn’t exist down where my parents are. So, needing shoes for BB and still having the sewing bug (sewing really begets more sewing), I looked around the shop while the boys played with cars. I didn’t find any good tops to refashion but I did find this skirt that really called out to me; it’s linen, which as I mentioned last time I am very fond of, and it had this funky embroidery.

Now, when cut apart and pressed it was barely, barely big enough to fit the pattern, again the Colette Sorbetto, without the length added (which was OK because it already has a hem), and without the pleat. I cut it out and put it together and found it surprisingly baggy. I guess this fabric is quite a bit stiffer than the last one so it didn’t drape at all, just stuck out like a big hoop skirt. I ended up taking the sides in about 0.5” each and adding a seam in the back, about 0.5” at the top and increasing to about 2” at the bottom, so a pretty substantial modification. This closed up both the neck and arm openings, so instead of doing a bias facing, which eats up 1/4”, I pressed my tape to be a double fold bias and applied it to the openings that way. No hope of eking out sleeves this time! I am really happy with the final product though.

It fits just perfectly! On the back you can see the seam I added:

It was unfortunate because this is a really noticeable pattern to stick a seam into! But it had to be done. Now, the skirt this came from was fully lined, and after wearing this I can see why – it is super, duper, mega scratchy. I had a linen blend sling awhile back that eventually gave way to softness and I hope it happens for this fabric too, because right now I kind of feel like some medieval peasant wearing a burlap sack (albeit a pretty one). The skirt was dry clean only but I hand-washed it and I think I will take my chances with the washer and dryer in the hopes that the fibers can be scrubbed and spun into submission.

The #1 in the title is because I found another skirt, which is now cut apart and pressed and ready to be made into a shirt.

I actually have a pattern that I thought would be just perfect, I made this muslin of it last year just after the spring top sewalong…

…but it’s IN STORAGE! Boo! So it will probably become yet another Sorbetto, which is fine. With all the possible variations (sleeves/sleeveless, pleat/no pleat/inverted pleat, etc.) plus the wildly different fabrics, it won’t end up looking like 3 of the same top, which is one of the best features of the pattern. It’s a blank slate! So, if I find the time, top #3 here I come!

Don’t forget to check out all the fun stuff going on in the spring top sewalong!

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[…] that make this latest Sorbetto completely different from my first two Sorbettos. Like I mentioned last time, I thought this fabric would look cute in a Simplicity pattern that I have, but it’s in storage, […]

About Me

I am a stay-at home-mom of two young boys, who we'll just call big brother and little brother. BB is 4 and LB is 2. I am a Materials Engineer by education and a science teacher by trade, and most recently, a full time domestic engineer!